The Unchanging Gospel

Romans 5:1–11 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

A couple of weeks ago Methodists all around the world celebrated the anniversary of John Wesley’s “Aldersgate Experience” on May 24, 1738. After years of trying to prove himself to God and himself that he was worthy of saving through the works that he did, Wesley felt the assurance of salvation that he had been justified through Christ alone and was indeed saved by faith in Christ. This moment of his heart being “strangely warmed” is seen by many as the true beginning of the Methodist movement and the revival that ensued.

This happened in a Moravian meeting on Aldersgate Street in London while the pastor was reading from Martin Luther’s preface to his commentary on Romans. This was the realization for Wesley that nothing that he did would save him. It was only through the work of Christ and faith in him that made salvation and assurance of salvation possible.

Our passage today is a transition point in Paul’s letter. After spending the first three chapters explaining the human condition of sin and the fourth chapter using the example of Abraham that we are justified by faith, he now moves to the theme of assurance and how that leads into sanctification. The central idea in both of these themes is the love of God and how much he wishes to be in relationship with us. All that Paul outlines in these verses gives us hope. Knowing that God saves us through his great love for us, how much more will God do for us as we suffer and struggle in the world around us?

The message of the gospel gives us hope in both good and bad times. Our joy is not contingent on current circumstances but in the fact that God loves us so much that Christ died for us while we were against him in our sin nature. The unchanging gospel is what Wesley clung to when he heard the words from the pastor those many years ago, and it what we hold on to today. So, today we are going to look some of the aspects of the gospel that help us to grow in our relationship with God.

1. Through faith in Christ, we have peace and stand in his grace. (vs. 1-2)

Wesley says the following in his explanatory notes on verse 1:

“Being justified by faith is the sum of the preceding chapters. We have peace with God - being enemies to God no longer, neither fearing his wrath. We have peace. Hope, love, and power over sin, the sum of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters. These are the fruits of justifying faith. Where these are not, that faith is not.”

Wesley gives us some important insight on what Paul is trying to get the readers to understand - because of faith in Christ we have peace and stand in his grace. We are in a state of favor before God because of the faith that we have placed in Christ.

For Christians, this is the bedrock of who we are. It is only through faith in Christ alone that peace with God is possible. He explains this further once we get to verse 10. But here, after spending three chapters outlining the dreadfulness of our sinful condition, he tells us that we now have hope. We are not lost and wandering any longer. There is now something within us that gives us confidence in our relationship with God and our lives in general. The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 4, verse 16 - “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Because we have peace with God and are in his grace, we can go to him and receive all the blessings of him without any fear or doubt. Our faith in Christ brings us into a right relationship with God so that we might live in completeness with him.

For many of us, this is a hard thing for us to imagine. There may be great turmoil in your hearts right now because of guilt or shame. You may feel as if God does not care about you. How can God really forgive you of the things you have done? You may be fighting God in your hearts. Perhaps there is conviction by the Holy Spirit that has been laid upon you. You want to give yourself to him, but you are holding on to your sin because you don’t know who you would be without it. You may have lived your life trying to prove yourself to God and others and show all the good things that you have done and have identified them as meriting you salvation. None of those things matter for eternity. Good works do not save us. Only faith in Christ brings salvation. You can have peace in your life today and be in his grace if you would but open your heart to him and allow him to come into you.

2. We rejoice in our suffering because it points us to God’s love. (vs. 3-5)

One of the fallacies of American Christianity is that we are supposed to be immune to suffering if we give our lives over to Christ. There are many who are on our televisions and pulpits across this nation who tell us if we really have faith that no bad thing will ever come to us because God won’t let it. I have always found this to be a puzzling message because I have never known one person who has never had suffering as a Christian. Even the most faithful and devout people I have had the privilege to know over the years comes upon difficult times in life. What I have learned by watching these faithful saints is that the suffering that we face leads us to new places in our faith.

It is important that Paul moves to the role of suffering right after speaking about rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God once we have given our lives to Christ. In context, Paul is writing to a group of Christians who had been run out of Rome and had to leave their homes behind. During the reign of Nero, Jews and Christians were forced out of Rome because of increased persecution because they did not engage in emperor worship. Paul is speaking to them on the heels of this event. He is giving them encouragement that the trials they are facing are not for naught. They have a purpose, and that purpose points us to God’s immeasurable love for us.

It is because of this great love that has been poured into us through the Holy Spirit that we can face the struggles in life and rejoice in them. James tells his readers in James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” He reminds us that our faith will face times of testing, but in that time, we can lean on our faith in Christ and be steadfast so that through the love of God we may be made perfect and complete. It is in our suffering that we may be facing a refiner’s fire to purify us and sanctify us to be more like Christ and move closer to God. Paul tells his audience in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The results of our suffering when faced with a joyful heart is true hope that God will do what he promises and bring us to complete sanctification as God’s love is continually poured into our lives.

3. All of this is possible only because of the action of God through reconciliation. (vs. 6-11)

As Paul moves to the conclusion of this transitional segment of the chapter, he focuses on the action that God has taken through Christ to make it possible for us to be justified and sanctified by faith. As he sets up the remarks on reconciliation, he points to two things that relate back to what he has been talking about throughout Romans up to this point. First, that we are weak and ungodly in our sinfulness to the point that we are enemies of God. I want to point out here that God has not made us his enemies. It is our natural position in our sin. Throughout the first and second chapters, Paul outlines the ways in which we see God as our enemy because we want to live in rebellion against him. God has not declared us the enemy. We have declared him the enemy in our hearts. Secondly, Paul sets up what will be fleshed out throughout the next three chapters - mainly that even though we were enemies of God through sin - God has done the work in Christ by dying on the cross for our sin.

After outlining the problem and the work, Paul informs us of the result - reconciliation. This is a word that Paul uses in several occasions to talk about what exactly is happening through the death of Jesus. It is not to satisfy the blood-lust of a vengeful deity. Christ takes our death upon himself for the consequences of sin so that we can return to the loving presence of God. Again, God has not declared us the enemy. We have declared God to be enemy because of our sin. Christ’s death brings us together so that the penalty of our sin might be covered, and we can be with him for eternity. Paul says in Colossians 1:21-22 “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” In Christ, God has shown us the depth of his sacrificial love for us that even when we were his enemies, Christ entered into human history for the sole purpose of leading us to God. When we place our faith in him, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus points us to how much God wants us to be in relationship with him completely unencumbered by the sin that separates us.

This action has both temporal and eternal benefits for those who have faith in Christ. The temporal benefit, that is what benefits us now, is that we can live this life with hope and peace knowing that God has done such great things for us already. If we know all that God has already done, what else will God do for us when we have suffering and hardship in this life? If Christ has been raised from the grave, what can come against us in this life that God has not already defeated? The eternal benefit is that the wrath of God is no longer on us, and we will be able to spend eternity with him. God’s wrath is real. His wrath comes against those who stand in opposition to him throughout history. His enemies will face that wrath again when Christ returns and judgment is carried out upon all who denied Christ. But those who trust in him now will not face such wrath. The hardships we endure now are typically because of the sin of others or ourselves. They are the natural consequences to sin. There will be a day when all of that will cease, and we will be with him forever. This is the sure and certain hope of the Christian life.